“That’s the weird thing,” Leta said. “The call came an hour before the time of the murder.”20Roy“How would she know that?” I asked.
“Not too difficult. Once the murder hit the news and the police figured out when the murder had taken place, Nieves saw that she’d received the call before he’d been killed.”
“We’re going to need to see her cell phone records,” I said to Hoss.
“You’ll need a subpoena,” he said.
“How about some money, instead?”
“Are you trying to bribe me, sir?” Hoss asked.
“Oh, for God’s sake,” I said. “This is an unofficial meeting. I’m not a fucking cop. I have no interest in harming Ms. Romero or you. My interest is in exonerating my family, myself included.”
“It’s okay,” Leta said. “I can talk about it. Though maybe you should be talking to Nieves.”
“We would be, if we’d known she’s the source of your information,” I said. “But you’re here now. Please go on.”
“Nieves didn’t think anything of it at the time. It was a voicemail, so she didn’t get it until the next morning, and by then it was on the news. It wasn’t until later that she realized the phone call had come before the actual murder. Like I said, after the police had determined the timing.”
“Did the voicemail say anything else?”
“Just that Derek Wolfe wasn’t who he appeared to be, like I said.”
“Did she save that voicemail?”
“I don’t know. But if I had to guess, I’d say she did.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because it involved Derek Wolfe, which meant it involved Rock. And if Derek was dead, that meant Rock inherited a lot of cash, and Nieves would want in on that.”
“Sounds like you don’t think too highly of your sister,” I said.
“Actually, we’re close, but I know who she is. I doubt she’d deny it.”
Charlie cleared her throat, nodding to me.
“Yeah?”
“May I ask Ms. Romero a question?”
“Of course.”
“Ms. Romero, are you aware that your sister came to Manhattan the week after Derek Wolfe’s murder to see Rock?”
“No, but it doesn’t surprise me.”
“Has she returned to Montana?”
“I don’t honestly know. I haven’t seen her, and we use our cells to communicate, so I guess she could be anywhere.”
“Why don’t you give her a call right now?” I said. “See if she can meet us here.”
“I’m not sure I should do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because then she’d know I’ve been blabbing stuff she told me. She wouldn’t take kindly to that.”
“We’re going to call her in anyway,” I said. “And if she doesn’t cooperate, we’ll have the police question her. Would you rather she be arrested?”
“You can’t arrest her for getting a voicemail.”
She was right. I’d misspoken in my haste. I glanced at the notes from Lacey. I really should stick to them.
“I’m sorry. I meant questioned by the police.”
“I was wondering about that anyway,” Leta said. “Why am I here? Why didn’t you just have the police question me?”
“Because right now, the police consider my siblings and me suspects in the case. None of us had anything to do with it, of course.”
“How well do you know your siblings?” she asked.
Bam.
Brick to my gut.
I knew Reid well enough. Riley sort of. Rock? Not really at all. But did I think any of them were killers? Not in a million years.
“Very well,” I lied. “My siblings and I had nothing to do with our father’s murder. Besides, I believe you’re here to answer our questions, and you’re being very well compensated.”
But there were people who would want my father dead…and I wasn’t thinking of the myriad associates in the business world he’d pissed off. No, they might want him dead, but they wouldn’t kill him.
But people existed who would.
The people in those blurred images I couldn’t bring to the front of my mind.
Would the fact that I knew make me more of a suspect?
He was dead now, though. He couldn’t point fingers.
Except that was exactly what he was doing.
Didn’t matter. I couldn’t bring the blurs to reality. I couldn’t if I wanted to stay sane. If I wanted to keep my life as I knew it.
I couldn’t.
I cleared my throat. “Is there anything you can add, Ms. Romero?”
“That’s pretty much it,” she said. “May I go now?”
“Not quite yet,” Charlie said.
I regarded her, the silver sparkle in her eyes laced with seriousness. “Do you have more questions?”
“Just one,” Charlie said. “And it’s a big one.”21CharlieSomething about the Romero sisters didn’t add up. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but just being near Leta Romero made chills erupt on the back of my neck. I wasn’t one to trust my intuition, but I did so now, without knowing exactly why.
“You’ve been honest about your sister. She values money.”
“She does.”
“Would you say she values it more than you do?”
“Why is that relevant?”
“Well, I’m assuming the Wolfes are paying you to be here. Am I correct?”